Mage Manual
Chapter 502 - 411: I am Miss Yvalin’s Dog!

Chapter 502: Chapter 411: I am Miss Yvalin’s Dog!

"Resurrected from death!"

Rein Mercury’s eyes widened as he watched Ash from afar, his pupils filled with shock and longing.

No wonder the first Deceit was so intricate, no wonder the kingdom’s ritual was so grand!

This was truly a genuine resurrection ritual, re-forging the deceased, reversing life and death!

Amongst the mage community, there existed a peculiar sentiment: the weaker and more ignorant the mage, the simpler they believed resurrection to be. Because in their daily lives they had seen many people who could be saved in time even with their heads shattered—such events seemed like resurrections to them, so how much harder could true resurrections be?

Only powerful mages who had delved into the upper echelons of the Void Realm and studied countless manuals, understanding the deeds of many predecessors, would come to realize that resurrection was the greatest wonder of this world.

Mercury’s clan were all fragile ’glass men’, sunlight, table corners, toys on the ground... Mercury had been easily injured by his environment since childhood, so after becoming a mage, almost all of them would also practice the Water Technique Faction and become Medical Practitioners, and Rein was no exception. Years ago, when Rein’s sister’s soul returned to the Time Continent, Rein, proficient in medical miracles, had also sought ways to resurrect loved ones.

But he soon discovered that healing and resurrection were two entirely different matters.

Healing the near-dead was a snap, but resurrecting the lifeless was as hard as reaching heaven!

A mage’s death generally followed three processes: physical decay, such as a fractured heart, shattered head, or body turned to dust, which was the only process medical mages could intervene in; soul descent, wherein a mage’s soul was drawn by gravity down into the six layers of Hell, with Hell cleansing the soul of all ’impurities’; and finally, merging with the Void Realm, where the souls cleansed by Hell would sediment into a corner of the Void Realm, becoming a source of knowledge for the next generation of mages.

If a mage truly died, it meant he had become a mere projection of a mage, and to resurrect him, three things must be accomplished: find his soul in the Void Realm, retrieve his heartbeat from Hell, and forge his body in reality—the last step being crucial. If the soul and body were not compatible, the soul would eventually separate and fall away.

Take Hanna’s ancestral summoning, for example; her ancestors would have to return to the Void Realm after existing for a while in reality. Non-original souls and bodies would wear down each other, and once the wear accumulated to a certain degree, the body could no longer house the soul.

However, there were shortcuts for the body, such as patching up the original body’s corpse, but in the first Deceit, it was clear they went straight to re-forging, creating a whole new body from nothing, as seamless as could be!

Yet for mages, not to mention forging a new body, just finding the soul and retrieving the heartbeat were utterly impossible—undoubtedly a grand domain only the Divine Lord could tread!

By comparison, the rituals of the previous nine Deceits seemed quite cost-effective. Temporarily summoning an ancestor to possess someone, inheriting the knowledge of predecessors, acquiring the power of the past... Although the price was also extremely high, these were not actual resurrections, and so the process appeared quite easy, with mages like Rein able to complete the task alone.

But the last, the first Deceit?

Planned for years, involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of staff, with a risk so high that ’courting death’ seemed an understatement—it was only describable as madness!

If not mad, who would join the Four Pillars God Sect?

If not mad, who would conceive and execute such a Deceit?

If not a madman—

how could one create a Shadow Kingdom just to revive a man?

Therefore, the gazes everyone cast upon Ash were torn, both wanting him to die quickly and yet hoping he wouldn’t die just yet. After all, Ash had already appeared on three lists consecutively, and whether he was dead or not, it would surely bring a profound disaster upon the Gospel... He was truly the embodiment of a curse!

Among the mages, Cleos, the "Crying Red Hat," felt the most conflicted.

That’s because she knew that Harvey, Igula, and Ash were all casually picked up by Hanna, and she was present when Hanna signed the Contract with them, even standing by to serve as a physical threat.

It was truly witnessing a moment in history.

She had thought it was just an unmemorable daily occurrence, and the escaped Eternal Damnation concerned her more than these foreigners. However, life is full of mysteries, and it was the down-and-out foreigners who caused storms in the Gospel’s fate, while the once insurmountable Cult Leader’s whereabouts, as he struggled to build his organization, were now unknown.

Cleos was even starting to doubt if Hanna had deceived her—Did you really just find them three in the wild? Are you sure you didn’t specifically select these top students from somewhere like the Evil God Academy, a demon’s den, or an apocalypse summer camp?

Feeling almost hurt by everyone’s gazes, Ash instinctively wrapped his arms around Nona’s waist, ready to run away with his aunt at any moment. However, at that time, Ash suddenly turned to look at Hanna and asked out of the blue, "Did you really not conspire with Igula?"

"No," Hanna said with a somewhat playful expression, "What are you guessing?"

"Because of the young lady, our future is the result of deceiving the Gospel. However, wrong as they may be, there shouldn’t be any contradictions or character inconsistencies in the Gospel’s own logical calculations," Ash said, "Based on the other families appearing in the footage, there must be wealthy families on the Deceit List, families from the Art List are struggling to maintain, and on the Family List, there’s only the Necromancy family left... This means that the chronological order of occurrences is the Deceit List, the Art List, and then the Family List."

Hanna nodded; this was something everyone basically realized after seeing the future lists.

"In the Family List, Harvey said he got the location of the Angel Necromancy’s tomb from the Belladett family, but he is not someone skilled in gathering information, and his social circle doesn’t include the living," Ash glanced at Alice sitting on the coffin, who nodded in agreement, "This means the information that ’Belladett possesses the Angel Inheritance’ had to have come from someone else."

Ash turned to look at the main house of the Belladetts: "However, there are only two people in the Belladett family, an older sister and a younger sister, and they would never betray their family secrets... But now, there’s an extra person in the Belladett family. And that person, in the ’Deceit List,’ has been recognized by the Gospel as someone who would never abandon us."

"’Never abandon us’..." Hanna mused on these words, then suddenly smiled and said, "Perhaps."

"Then you—"

"But I didn’t lie, eye contact, body language, direct communication, written correspondence... I had no information exchange with Igula whatsoever," Hanna shrugged, "We didn’t conspire, the only thing we have is a consensus."

"What consensus?"

Hanna did not answer but looked down at Liss.

After thinking for a moment, Liss pried Ash’s hand from Nona’s slender waist and whispered in his ear:

"Dad, what exactly did Aunt Hanna bring us to Mongfera for?"

Ash was taken aback.

...

While Ash and the others were chatting, the mages also reached a consensus.

"Senheiser," Rein said calmly, "I’m sorry, but we need to amend the terms—you can only take your daughter and the other surplus people. Ash Heath and Archibald Harvey must be handed over to be supervised by different powers."

Although up to this point, the Gospel had not explicitly pointed out the dangers of Ash, his historical standing alone, having tied together three future disaster lists, meant that no one dared consider him a worthless 0-star waste.

In other words, just his ability to breathe was already the greatest blasphemy against the Gospel.

He must be kept under strict surveillance, and isolated!

To use a card game analogy, if Ash were a card, he in fact had no effect by himself, but if he teamed up with Hanna Doran, Archibald Harvey, or Rusted Crow—then it was a royal flush!

Now that everyone realized the significant threat Ash posed, even Cleos, who had deep ties with Hanna, no longer dwelled on past sentiments and acquiesced to Rein’s stringent terms.

Moreover, Rein, Zuvendas, and Anna had all agreed—Ash Heath would personally be handed over to the state by Cleos! Even from a standpoint of self-interest, Cleos wouldn’t allow Qinna to take Ash away!

The mages began to slowly rise, surrounding Qinna and the rest from all directions!

Ash, seeing the situation as dire, just thought about retreating when his right hand was grabbed by Nona. Hanna was comforting the crouching, head-hugging Banjee while watching Qinna’s back.

Qinna raised her head and looked at the four Holy Sanctuary Mages in the sky, her voice revealing a hint of weakness for the first time, "Can’t we talk this over?"

"Hand over Heath and Harvey," Zuvendas said, "and we can talk at leisure."

The female Elf Clan Leader let out a sigh. "I see... Then I understand."

"I will only protect my kin, my tribespeople."

Liss clung tightly to Ash, her gaze dropping to a hand mirror, nearly crying in desperation.

"So," Qinna slowly drew her twin guns, her tone grave and steady, "I will absolutely not let you take Hanna Senheiser and Ash Senheiser."

"I regret this," Rein said, "you have left us with no choice."

Alice blinked her eyes and reached out to tap on the coffin lid, trying to draw the attention of others—What about us?

Just as the atmosphere was about to explode, the Gospel Book belatedly popped out the additional information about the number one on the Deceit List:

"The number 1 on the Deceit List: Ash’s Kingdom Revival Ritual"

"Synopsis: To revive Ash Heath, the leader of the Four Pillars God Sect, Igula Bokin, initiated the Kingdom Revival Ritual on April 10, 1678, based on the nine rituals that had already taken place."

"Mastermind: Igula Bokin."

Everyone glanced at the name Rusted Crow and paid it no further attention, except for Yvalin, who had been watching from afar. She only came out of her daze when she saw Igula’s name.

In the blink of an eye, Yvalin realized she was in the middle of a scheme that had not been exposed by the Gospel.

She immediately made the right decision—activating the fireworks device in the front garden, leveraging the dazzling fireworks display to draw everyone’s attention!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I—"

Boom!

With an unseen thud, not only did it cause the boastful mages to plummet, but it also choked Yvalin’s only chance to clear her name in her throat.

At the same time, the entire Belladett Manor lit up.

Hell, Senheiser, mountains, plains, the main house... sculptures from all locations began to light up, with a barely visible cerulean river of light flowing from Mongfera, continuously into the sculptures around the manor.

In an instant, only Ash and his companions remained standing, while all the others, including Qinna, fell to the ground, their bodies trembling slightly, unable to move, like toys at the mercy of others.

But Ash and the others also didn’t dare to act rashly, after all, in their view, it was Yvalin who came out to shout a word for their protection, and then everyone collapsed—so heartbreaking, Yvalin was truly tender!

However, at that moment, Ash found an additional message in his Gospel Book, the sender was... Rusted Crow?

After reading the message, Ash showed a hesitant look, but quickly took a deep breath, mustering the courage to step into the center of the area.

He looked around, facing the astonished eyes of the crowd, his expression turned into a sinister and unruly smile:

"Sorry, I am actually Miss Yvalin’s dog, and to offend me is to offend Belladett... You’re done for!"