Mage Manual

Ash was at a loss for words and asked again, "Is there nothing wrong with Youmo?"

"There’s an issue, but not as severe as yours." The Mirror Demon glanced at the black and white Level Six of Hell: "Currently, the entire Hell is trapped in the fade disaster, and Youmo is no exception. This is widespread area damage, but you are the culprit who personally destroyed the mage concept, subjected to a high-precision single-target attack... Youmo’s fading speed is roughly one-thousandth of yours, but to ensure her mobility, her Source Crystal consumption per second is similar to yours."

"Can’t we fly up? Or use a Miracle—"

"Almost impossible. You can perceive that Level Six of Hell has become a ’mage’s absolute domain,’ where anything related to mage concepts rapidly fades. Simply sustaining the existence of both of you is consuming the accumulation of countless years."

Ash exerted himself to mobilize the nearly stagnant thoughts and asked softly, "Is it only Level Six of Hell? Won’t the fade disaster spread outside?"

"Not currently." The Mirror Demon stated, "Dazzling Star did one thing right: sealing off Hell completely. For Uroboros, this blockade will inevitably be breached eventually. But for the fade disaster formed by the mage concept’s detonation, although it could destroy the world, even tracing up the Flowing Gold River to continue Uroboros’s pursuit, destroying all mage civilizations... it does not possess self-awareness and can indeed be blocked within Level Six of Hell."

Blocked inside Level Six of Hell, there’s the disaster, and there’s them.

"So," Ash looked at the melting grayish-white Hell below: "Are we doomed?"

"Regardless, let’s escape to the uppermost level of Hell first." Death Mad said calmly: "Even if we are truly doomed, we will delay until the last moment, awaiting a Miracle... Aren’t you the kind of person who won’t shed tears until you see the Coffin?"

"Aren’t you all the same?" Ash countered: "Even in utter despair, we struggle to the last moment, even if it’s impossible we strive for the maximum benefit, always hopeful, always greedy for adventure... Isn’t that who we mages are? If I were willing to resign to fate, I’d still be living a carefree and routine life in Shattered Lake Prison."

Death Mad let out a small snort, took a deep drag on his cigarette, watching as the white smoke from the tip curled like a snake, and said leisurely, "Well, then, let’s see if another Miracle will appear."

At this moment Ash was more concerned about another matter: "Even a dead World Snake could annihilate all mage civilizations instantly, and now Virtual Realm’s seventh layer might be nurturing another one? Isn’t the mage world too dangerous, always teetering on the brink of doom?"

The Mirror Demon suddenly brought up another matter: "The Observer once visited the timeline after the end."

"After the end?" Ash was a bit bewildered; isn’t the end supposed to be the last stop, is there something beyond it?

"When he returned, he told us that within infinite Chaos, he saw eight great newly born existences."

Eight? Eight of what...

Ash was about to follow up, when suddenly he shivered, his pupils contracted sharply, sweat poured down his forehead like rain, and he murmured softly a distant tale: "At first, there were eight..."

"Eight died out, eight were born anew. After the end, lies the beginning." Death Mad said: "The mage world is a circle. The World Snake is akin to a reboot mechanism for mage civilization, connecting the end with the beginning like the tail-eating snake Uroboros."

"Mage civilization is like a stack of blocks, due to desire, due to ideals, due to accumulation, it grows higher and larger, until its size finally becomes too much to bear its own weight resulting in collapse. This collapse process is called the World Snake, so whether the snake is alive or dead, the collapse that is meant to happen will still happen."

Suddenly absorbing so much information, Ash’s forehead was burning, operating at such high speed, it was close to overheating. At this point, Youmo finally climbed to the third level of Hell, she threw Ash to the Mirror Demon: "Your turn."

Only then Ash realized that Youmo’s body color was extremely faded, once she threw Ash’s body away, she completely turned into gray-white mist and vanished, leaving just one sentence: "Remember to mold my body nicely."

The Mirror Demon hoisted Ash onto his shoulder and continued climbing towards the fourth level of Hell.

Ash comprehended, "Youmo’s body? Can you all escape Hell?"

"Of course." The Mirror Demon said calmly: "We finally defeated Uroboros, fulfilling our long-sought aspiration, and we haven’t yet basked in the fruits of victory, how could we die in Hell?"

"But Hell is sealed, isn’t it?"

"Someone will open it."

Ash’s gaze flickered, he remained silent.

At this moment, the Mirror Demon suddenly said: "Ash, could I ask you to observe the flow of gray-white Chaos below?"

Ash glanced at the gray-white Chaos below, resembling paste, every minute and second Hell melts into new Chaos piling on, in the middle there was a vortex. At first, he thought the vortex resulted from Chaos flowing into the world’s cracks, but after careful observation, he noticed the vortex was not flowing down, but up.

The waves surging from the vortex were like Chaos’s tentacles, striving to extend towards a common direction. As Ash moved, the direction of the tentacles altered, almost as if—

"You notice, don’t you?" said the Mirror Demon, "Gray-white Chaos is flowing towards you."

"Impossible." Ash’s complexion turned hot with a pathological blush: "This is impossible, why would it—"

"Because you’ve been cursed, you see, as it fades your colors, it also transforms you into a coordinate." The Mirror Demon said: "A coordinate guiding the fade disaster."

"I must admit, the death mechanism of the World Snake is exceptionally flawless; a fade disaster capable of destroying mage civilization, a curse coordinate locking onto the slayer. Even if the slayer is fortunate enough to bear the curse, the fade disaster will make them an unprecedented criminal, wherever they flee, the fade disaster will pursue and turn wherever they tread into Chaos."

Ash faintly realized what she meant to convey, his breathing became shallow and fast, muscles tightened, like a fat bird on a chopping block.

"So, indeed the fade disaster is blocked inside Level Six of Hell." The Mirror Demon said: "But if you escape to reality, your coordinate will be the most optimal guide for the fade disaster."

"You cannot die, curse transfer is not impossible; if you die, perhaps the curse randomly shifts to a mage in reality. Hence, the best solution is to take you outside the ’mage’s absolute domain’ and use a Miracle to remove your curse."

"How to remove it?" Ash asked, though he already held the answer in his heart.

"No method is foolproof, the best course is to eradicate everything of you, extracting the curse from the composition of your memory, consciousness, mind, and so forth. Only when you and the curse vanish completely, can we ensure that the fade disaster will not breach the Hell seal and will not spread to reality."

"Which means," the Mirror Demon arrived at a rock wall, grabbed onto the rocks, carrying him upward, "it’s necessary for us to divide you, to fully subdue the fade disaster."

PS: Stayed up all night finishing ’Town With You,’ apologies for being late...

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