Igula was too good to me.

At the moment when his eardrums were shattered by the Spiritual Scream, Ash suddenly had this thought. When he attempted to rush forward, he discovered that the continuous Spiritual Scream even had a repelling effect, and without the ability to use his Magic Power and Technique Spirit, getting close was exceedingly difficult!

The figure appearing before Ash and Meiwa was dressed in black, strikingly similar to Igula. To distinguish him from the original, let's call him the Phantom Rusted Crow.

After seizing the initiative with a Spiritual Scream, the Phantom Rusted Crow actually pulled double-barreled Hand Cannons from his robe. When targeted by the gun muzzle, a powerful sense of fear tore through Ash's heart like a wild beast, causing his body to stiffen, sweat to pour down, and his legs to weaken!

After all, Ash was a battle-hardened Mage from the Void Realm, and being aimed at by a gun wouldn't make him lose his composure like this. This was the Spirit Miracle of the Phantom Rusted Crow, which amplified the fear in Ash's heart through the event of "being targeted by a gun muzzle," affecting Ash's body control by manipulating hormone secretion!

Bang! Bang!

Ash deflected the gun bullets just in time, while Meiwa, without even attempting to block, simply tilted her head to avoid them, rapidly running and jumping along the walls trying to breach the Phantom Rusted Crow's perimeter!

The Phantom Rusted Crow didn't retreat but charged toward Meiwa while shooting.

Seeing this, the remaining fear in Ash's heart once again began to spread and boil—it was the 'Fearless' Technique Spirit! Igula had mentioned to Ash before that if the Fearless Technique Spirit was paired with his fear-based miracle, it could trigger a surge of fear in others when he himself showed no fear at all!

Moreover, the Phantom Rusted Crow opened his mouth again, issuing a second Spiritual Scream!

But Ash and Meiwa's eardrums had been destroyed by the first scream, would this miracle still be effective?

Of course, it would be.

Spirit Miracles aren't so inconvenient.

Even more terrifying—if the memory of the Spiritual Scream still lingered in Ash and Meiwa's minds, then as soon as the Phantom Rusted Crow made the motion, it would instantly trigger the second scream!

Indeed, the Phantom Rusted Crow hadn't actually used the miracle; he merely mimed the shape of his mouth, and the memory, like a deadly poison, infiltrated the spirits of Ash and Meiwa, shaking their very souls!

But Ash had never truly been Igula's enemy before; he had no chance of enjoying the duet of screams!

The real miracle the Phantom Rusted Crow used at this moment was 'Boiling Blood,' enhancing courage!

The target was Meiwa.

The effect, to not avoid any attacks and to actively confront all difficulties!

Spirit Miracles have no difference between enhancement and debuff; it simply depends on how the Spirit Mage uses them.

Stunned by the false Spiritual Scream and motivated by Boiling Blood, Meiwa faced the Phantom Rusted Crow's gunfire and had almost no choice but to serve as a target for the slaughter!

However, Meiwa almost instantly recovered from the scream, her dual swords moving like a Rain Curtain—deflecting all the bullets and even executing a Perfect Counter on one, sending it back to hit the left wrist of the Phantom Rusted Crow!

The Phantom Rusted Crow released his left hand and quickly retreated, aiming his right at Ash who was seizing the opportunity to charge. As the sound of gunfire rang out, Ash didn't block but ducked to evade, then thrust a sword towards the Phantom Rusted Crow!

A third Spiritual Scream sounded, and although Ash was now immune, the scream itself was able to repel objects at a certain distance—only those within the sphere of the scream were immune to its repelling effect!

Naturally, Ash was repelled, but during the brief moment the Phantom Rusted Crow shifted his attention, Meiwa had already broken into his guard zone and then—

Whoosh!

A Sword Light flashed, spurting out a half-yard-tall Blood Spring. The headless corpse flopped down limply, the blonde head rolling to a stop next to Ash.

Two balls of flame emerged from the body and flew into Ash and Meiwa, instantly healing all their injuries and restoring their strength, even leaving them with a full feeling in their stomachs.

Ash sat on the ground, taking short, quick breaths, then stood up and exhaled a breath of stale air, not even glancing at the corpse on the ground, and asked, "What's going on here?"

"Why do you need me to provide an answer when you already have a judgment?" Meiwa wiped off the blood from her blade with the fabric of her elbow and sheathed her swords.

"Because I hope you can provide a different answer," Ash said. "To let me know I'm just a fool who thought wrong."

"Our next trials will likely involve clones pulled from your memory," Meiwa said bluntly, showing no concern for Ash's tender heart. "Igula Bokin, Archibald Harvey, Gerard Westminster, Hanna Doran, Banjee Doran, Freyja Hoyel, and... Sword Maiden, Witch, Weiser."

"That's a bit too much."

"Clones, not the originals," Meiwa remarked, kicking the headless body. "They just possess the miraculous abilities you've seen."

"Don't be like that," Ash said seriously. "And it's not me, it's us."

Meiwa showed no emotion, pulling down her mask to spit out some blood. Ash glanced at her, "Did you just bite your tongue?"

"Severe pain can break through the majority of Spirit Miracles," he said. "This is the intuition that even a Silver Level Spirit Faction can grasp."

"But we are not even Silver Mages," Ash sighed. "Does the trial offer an option to give up? We can't use Magic Power, and yet we have to fight against Official Mages?"

"The intensity of damage from trial enemies should be suppressed within the One-winged," the Observer said. "If it were the Spiritual Scream of the Two-winged, the kinetic knockback alone would be enough to shatter our ribs."

"But even a One-winged Mage—"

The Observer ignored his prattle, arranging his equipment before moving on. Ash hurried to catch up, complaining, "The others are one thing, but the Sword Maiden, the Witch, Hanna—they—"

No matter how powerful the trials left behind by the Gray Fox Era are, they cannot surpass the prime of life of the Divine Beings of Gospel," the Observer calmly stated. "Even Gospel can't pry into your situation in the Void Realm, the trials probably can't replicate your operators either."

"But there's Meiwa and the young mistress…" Ash said. "Can you really lay your hands on them?"

The Observer did not speak, only giving him a glance.

Ash could only worry about how to face them when the time came, but he soon cheered up, clenching his fist and saying, "The two of us, mere mortals without the use of Magic Power, actually killed a Spirit Mage with just cold weapons! We're so strong!"

"But this trial is too sinister. Couldn't you summon some utterly revolting monster as the trial enemy? We would feel much better hacking away at them, why must it clone from our memories?"

"By the way, those props that change appearance in the external area, were they prepared for this?" Ash suddenly realized. "If I disguise myself as someone else, wouldn't that reduce the psychological pressure of having to kill someone familiar?"

The Observer calmly stated, "A change in appearance can lead to a change in personality. Uniforms, War Dresses, and so on all have this effect. This is also the intuition that Silver Level Spirit Faction can grasp."

"But if one can see through illusions, there's no need for these external aids."

"I'm not the Silver Lamp who treats everything as an illusion," Ash said. "Speaking of which, the Silver Lamp must have no psychological burden taking this trial, right?"

...

"Does it feel like they crawled out of Hell to seek revenge on you?"

Weiser wiped the blood from her face and picked up the fox mask from the ground. Although there was no Illusion Technique Spirit to obscure, she was now dressed in flamboyant clothes with purple-dyed hair. Even Ya Sha Jin would have difficulty seeing through her disguise.

"I'm starting to wonder whether you're my counterpart or my likeness," she said. "What joy do you find in mocking me, Yooran?"

"Why can't I be your complement?" Yooran laughed, her dress similar to Weiser's, only with slight differences in color. "You still have doubts inside you, while I have no hesitation."

Yooran, Weiser's Fate Twin. But Weiser couldn't be sure whether she was a complement, an opposite, or a likeness; sometimes she shared the same thoughts as Weiser, sometimes she enjoyed mocking her, and she even presumptuously took on the code name 'Yooran'.

If she had to say, Weiser felt she was somewhat like the Illusion Mirror Dragon clone from not long ago.

"I don't either," Weiser said, kicking the body on the ground away. "If I could kill them once, I can certainly do it twice."

"But what you anticipate is not such a reunion, is it?" Yooran said. "Instead, in the Void Realm, those who died by your hands would sincerely thank you for your kindness; those who misunderstood you would be genuinely grateful for your greatness... You actually look forward to the applause from those who don't know you."

"Especially him," Yooran glanced at the body on the ground. "He so admired you, admired you, was willing to share the labyrinth and the Vortex Secret Poison with you. But what you repaid him with was cold Death, just because—"

"Just because his hoarding of spoils would bring the punishment of the Holy Temple of Tribulation, I would be implicated; because the fewer people infected with the Vortex Secret Poison, the better; because I needed an opportunity to appear in the sight of the Holy Temple," Weiser calmly stated. "Do you actually think I care about that, after all this time has passed?"

"Of course not, I mention it only because at that time, you had actually considered finding companions," Yooran said. "It's too hard to endure alone."

"No one will understand me, everyone's gone mad, preferring to indulge in illusions rather than look up at the night sky. The only mercy I can offer is to help them find release," Weiser said. "However, perhaps this situation is about to change."

The two women proceeded down the corridor. Weiser glanced at her wristwatch; in addition to the 21-minute countdown, her trial number had also risen to 3. With a trial every 30 minutes, that meant they had been in the corridor for over 90 minutes.

Suddenly, the countdown stopped. Weiser looked up to find they had reached the end of the corridor, where a dazzling Light Gate stood.

When they stepped through the Light Gate, they found themselves in another large underground chamber.

However, they were not the first visitors here.

In the brief moment it took for their eyes to adjust to the change in light and darkness, two figures in the center of the hall rushed toward them!

Weiser immediately retreated, her back hitting the cold, hard wall. She had never imagined, given that she was the first to enter the path of trials and combined with her silver dragon blood physique, even without Magic Power, she had decent Combat Power, but she was making slower progress than those who came after!

She looked at the approaching Ash, her heart feeling neither sadness nor joy.

Yooran playfully winked at the Observer rushing toward her.

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