Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Ruth stared at Nicholson. ”Whatever you want to know, how much do you actually know?”

”I honestly never imagined there’d be anything wrong with Aislin.” Nicholson completely ignored Ruth’s heavy gaze, just talking to himself. ”That girl’s head seems to be born with something missing.

She looks like she’s got problems everywhere, but... those overly glaring flaws actually make her...

Tsk... for spy work, you’ve got to at least have enough intell... mm, observation, right?

Who would believe Aislin has any observation skills?

If you say she’s putting on an act... mm... tsk, people who can take that kind of money, whatever else, have to be people who love themselves as much as those from Kamente Tower, right?

Someone who doesn’t even cherish herself, how could she... she’s not a god... mm...”

Nicholson snapped his mouth shut: the killing intent was almost leaking from Ruth’s sharp gaze.

Nicholson only then realized that no matter how effective the Isolation Array was, bringing up a certain Goddess could still cause trouble.

No—would definitely cause trouble.

The Archmages had already had a sense of this for a long time, even to the point they could be sure it wasn’t just Goddess Bisozeya that couldn’t be mentioned; even words like ”Goddess,” ”Creator,” and the like were best left unsaid.

But the others were only possibly problematic; calling Her by name was guaranteed to cause an incident.

Especially inside a Magic Tower.

He really had been through too much lately, to the point he even dared break this taboo... At any other time, casually mentioning the word ”Goddess” might still have been fine, but now, it would definitely cause trouble.

Those eyes... heh~

Nicholson coldly lifted his head and glanced at the sky.

”So, how did you discover there was something wrong with her?” Ruth asked softly. ”I did run some tests to prove it, but I should’ve been the only one who knew.”

”Ever since that Dragon appeared and the Styx opened an entrance again, I found my Prophecies got a lot more accurate.” Nicholson hesitated for a few seconds before openly admitting it. ”Especially about people weaker than me but who had long-term contact with me.”

”So you weren’t calculating Aislin, you were calculating me, right?” Ruth immediately understood why Nicholson had just spewed a pile of seemingly useless nonsense.

No wonder he kept harping on Aislin’s personality flaws.

”When you were doing Prophecies about me...”

”I couldn’t see anything clearly.” Nicholson’s voice was very low. ”All I could see were vast swathes of Shadow.

I couldn’t even clearly see Oliva, whom you’re sheltering, or Gilbert. I could only see that they exist.

Especially Gilbert... under that Shadow, he’s clearly blurred and indistinct, but still, so powerful.

That terrifying aura almost made me think I was seeing my teacher, from back then.

The kids these days won’t get it, but you’ve seen my teacher; you should understand what I mean.

That feeling of someone clearly smiling gently, yet looking like... a non-human existence.

So when you mentioned his Talents, I wasn’t all that surprised.

Only someone that strong would end up walking that path.”

Then his lips suddenly twitched. ”But it was precisely because I saw that future that I firmly chose to follow behind you and stopped being so stubborn.

Otherwise, just those deliberate provocations from Kamente Tower, and they think they’re enough to shake me?”

Ruth blinked quickly a few times... He had a lot he wanted to say, but since he wanted to figure out how much inside information Nicholson actually knew right now, he decided to stay silent for the moment.

He truly found it unbelievable.

Talking nonsense, then sincerely believing your own nonsense—was that a Talent unique to Prophecy Mages?

If Nicholson really believed Gilbert would live a very long life and, under the grind of time, become that kind of Archmage able to Control Laws like the ones from the past, he would never have so easily given up causing trouble for Kamente Tower!

This suddenly made Ruth understand why, this time, Nicholson had given him such a long period to settle his emotions... Otherwise, normally, Nicholson would have produced a reasonable answer even before he summoned the students for a meeting.

At the time, Ruth had found it incredible... Nicholson was actually genuinely grieving for the disappearance of his own students and descendants!

Otherwise, wallowing in self-pity for ten days to half a month would’ve been long enough for him to recover.

The reason Nicholson could survive to now as the only half-baked Prophecy Mage was because his rationality always suppressed that peculiar impulsive emotion of Prophecy Mages.

But now it seemed the reason he had endured so long and even needed Kamente Tower to personally show up and needle him was that he had a more optimistic prediction about the future.

After all, Gilbert’s success would obviously have to be built on Ruth being able to tough it out over at Sia Tower.

As for other possibilities... Ruth gave a cold laugh... The chance of him doing nothing at Sia Tower was zero.

And once he started taking action there, if he truly failed, how could Gilbert, his Legitimate Line disciple, possibly have any chance to survive?

Failure meant death.

In this world, there was no chance for them to run... Even if he were willing, at the final moment, to sacrifice himself and let his students flee, it would still be impossible.

Ruth couldn’t help but lift his head and look at the sky as well.

Nicholson was quite satisfied with Ruth’s silence.

Even though he also felt that his own words had some issues, as long as no one had to rigorously research this matter, then his words counted as truth.

Nicholson’s mood improved a bit; a smile tugged at his lips... He’d explained things clearly, just as Ruth had wanted.

”You should have decided to give up on Aislin, right?” He tapped his right index finger toward Ruth. ”So that girl is no longer under the shelter of your Shadow.

But only half of her body has moved out; there’s still a small part of her attached to your Shadow.

You get it?

Unlike Gilbert and the others—though they too are beneath the Shadow, theirs is a Shadow extending out from your body.

Aislin, on the other hand, is connected to that dome-like Shadow above your head that looks like an upside-down sky.

I can’t quite make out the meaning of the Shadow surrounding you.

But from the change when she was suddenly kicked out from that great mass of Shadow, I could tell you’d abandoned her.

Putting that together with the recent events, it’s only natural to see that Aislin really does have a problem.

But I can’t figure out, with just her, what kind of problem she could possibly be.”

”Aislin herself has no problem.” Ruth thought for a moment, then spoke slowly. ”But behind her eyes, there’s another pair of eyes.”

”Hm?” Nicholson didn’t get it. ”Like that Soul Elixir kind of thing, or like Kamente Tower’s... That’s not quite the same, is it?”

”No.” Ruth shook his head. ”The Soul belongs to Aislin herself.

But she’s like... one Soul, two people.”

”Even with split personality, that still... isn’t the same Soul!” Nicholson couldn’t wrap his head around it... As a half Prophecy Mage, he understood perfectly the risks and symptoms of split personality.

”I don’t fully understand either.” Ruth said quietly. ”It’s very likely related to Her, so when it comes to Aislin you must be careful. Don’t say anything you shouldn’t in front of her, and don’t do anything you shouldn’t.”

”Hm?” Nicholson asked in surprise. ”Haven’t we already said plenty in the past?”

”Dissatisfaction is inevitable; not saying anything would be what’s suspicious.” Ruth glanced at Nicholson, whose brain was knotting itself up again. ”Besides, Aislin didn’t have any problem before.”

”That Dragon...”

”You think the Styx’s resistance would be met with no preparation at all from the other side?” Ruth let out a chilly laugh. ”Our Tower of Dark Enigma is really highly valued!

They’ve been preparing for this day for hundreds of years.”

Nicholson didn’t see anything wrong with that. ”From the day the Defense Tower fell, we stopped having anyone taller than us above our heads.

The Tower of Necromancy is the doomed neighbor next door... We’ve always guessed they might die even earlier than the Defense Tower!

We just didn’t expect the Defense Tower’s fate to end up uglier than that bunch of Skeletons’.

A pity. If they were still around, how could we end up, tsk...”

”What’s the point of talking about that?” Ruth said coldly. ”From the day the Tower of Dark Enigma was reduced to just you and me, today’s outcome was already decided.

Heh~ The fact they didn’t make us end up like the Defense Tower, with nothing left at all... they probably already think of that as great mercy...”

”Back then we still had the Defense Tower, didn’t we?” Nicholson couldn’t help but speak the truth. ”They had good character, so they cared about whether other people lived or died.

We can’t do that, so all we can do is slowly wait for death.”

”Their behavior has a lot to do with your teacher’s Prophecy too.” Ruth’s tone suddenly turned strange. ”If the Defense Tower didn’t change their style of doing things, they were destined to vanish without a trace, Magic Tower and all.”

”Then all they had to do was change, right?” Nicholson didn’t see any issue with that.

”But for some people, they’d rather choose to die standing.” Ruth raised an eyebrow.

”Which is why they’re Madmen.” Nicholson shook his head. ”Only by staying alive can you see hope.”

”Someone has to die; why must it always be someone else?”

”Hm?”

”The famous quote of the Defense Tower’s Tower Master.”

”They... should have left themselves a way out too, right?”

”Who knows. The thoughts of Madmen—how could normal people understand them!”