The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 185: You Hurt me

Serena paid no mind to the Red Hats raiding her base.

As Sense, the word failure did not exist in her dictionary. Her success was merely postponed. Every act of resistance would turn into welcome, every distance into closeness, and every death into reunion. It was like a story whose ending had already been written. No matter how wildly the plot twisted and turned, the final chapter would arrive exactly as destined.

The only person she truly cared about was Ashe Heath. The silence of the Four Pillars Deities in response to her sacrifice alone was proof of the weight he carried. Interestingly, they had also ignored his sacrifice.

From an outsider’s perspective, Ashe’s act of turning the sacrifice back onto the Four Pillars’ cultists might have seemed absurd and nothing more than a last desperate flail from a cornered man, but Serena saw it differently.

If she hadn’t presided over the ritual, if she hadn’t been in the underground hall, or if she hadn’t been named in Ashe’s sacrificial declaration, if even one of these conditions had not been met, Ashe might already have succeeded.

The fact that the Four Pillars Deities refused his sacrifice showed that Ashe’s words carried weight. According to Serena’s experience, the Deities rarely paid attention to mortals, and the only known exception was Sense. She didn’t know how Ashe had ended up in such a pitiful state despite holding that title, but merely possessing it meant the Deities would grant certain reasonable requests, such as participating in a sacrifice. During the ritual, it was very likely that the Four Pillars Deities had already responded to him.

Yet in the end, there was nothing. Silence prevailed. They gave no response to him, nor to Serena. Nothing happened.

The Deities rarely ”neglected” Sense. Serena saw only one explanation for it—the Deities themselves had failed to reach a consensus.

If the Deities had all agreed to support Ashe or all sided with Serena, one of them would have succeeded in the sacrifice. The fact that both survived suggested a split among the Four Pillars, with some judging Serena more valuable and others seeing greater potential in Ashe.

The only thing Serena was unsure of was the exact count of supporters, whether it was three to one, one to three, or an even split of two to two.

She recalled the rare divine oracle from a few days prior, which had demanded that the next sacrifice include outlanders. The Deities’ sudden whim was unusual. At the time, Serena hadn’t thought much of it and simply tasked the Funeral Agency with finding an outlander. That was how Ashe Heath ended up here.

Looking back, it was clear that the oracle had been deliberately arranged to bring Ashe to this stronghold, intending for him to replace her. In a single kingdom, there could only be one Sense. At the moment the oracle descended, Serena had been destined to make way for him.

Sense might be crucial, but when two existed at the same time, the Four Pillars Deities would start to choose, keeping the stronger and discarding the weaker. Yet for some unknown reason, They had changed their minds. They would not allow Ashe to replace Serena, but neither did They regard her as more important. The Deities hesitated, unable to reach a unified decision.

Serena’s task was therefore simple. She had to resolve Their indecision by removing the mistaken choice.

Ashe had been stunned by her sudden charge, but quickly realized it wasn’t as painful as he had imagined. He looked at her forehead, cut and bleeding, with bewildered eyes. ”Why did you do that?”

His thick-skinned forehead had gone unscathed, while her delicate brow bore the injury.

Serena stuck out her tiny tongue, straining to lick the blood dripping toward her mouth. It took every ounce of her effort to reach even a little, and she giggled. ”See? I’m bleeding.”

”Yeah, what’s wrong?”

Serena replied, ”I may look down on anyone who relies on the Book of Gospel, but I have to admit... everything it says is true. The advice to not harm me is something you must follow.

”You’ve hurt me. You’ll pay with your life.”

Ashe looked at the blood on Serena’s forehead, wearing the expression of a terminal patient, thinking, Why me?

”But... you ran right into me. That’s why you got hurt! I can’t be held responsible for that. I didn’t even hold it against you for injuring me! Consider that me respecting the old and loving the young! You’re just trying to frame me!”

”Are you angry or upset? Come on, hit me then.”

Serena stuck out her tiny tongue and gave a mischievous smile. ”When you injured me, my Sense already touched you. If it could absorb your death, perhaps it would grow even stronger.”

A chill ran down Ashe’s spine. Sense... what exactly is it? A Miracle? Or some special ability?

He had heard the term from Professor Syrin but never found any details about it. And now, he had crossed into this new kingdom, only to find himself still entangled with the Four Pillars Cult. It was like joining a new company and discovering it was already controlled by a corrupt parent corporation.

”Sense is just... Sense,” Serena said, tilting her head with a curious look. ”If you’re asking what it is, didn’t I just tell you?”

”Uh... could you say that again?”

Serena smiled sweetly. ”Ever entwined, everlasting to the end.”

At that moment, Cliose and the other Red Hats finally used their Earth and Water Class Miracles to temporarily seal all the breaches. Through tear-blurred eyes, Cliose glared at Serena and raised her gun toward the half-submerged silver throne. ”Serena!”

If the throne collapsed, Serena would be dragged under and drown.

The elf’s aim was precise, striking the base beneath the water perfectly. The silver throne emitted an electric, splintering sound as it began to disintegrate. Serena, soaked from head to toe, floated like a doll, unable to move a limb, sinking as if she were nothing more than a toy.

Yet she remained calm, showing no fear of the rising waters.

Gurgle.

A strange sound echoed from beneath the throne, and whirlpools formed around her. The water level visibly dropped. Cliose bit her lip in frustration. Just as she raised her hand to fire again, she froze in place. She couldn’t directly harm this monster in a girl’s body, or death would strike her.

”You’re scared, Cliose,” Serena said, lying contentedly in the water as the whirlpools pulled her down. ”But the thing you fear isn’t really me... It’s the word of God. The safety’s still on. Who could you even kill?”

Serena was then pulled into the small cavity that had formed beneath the shattered throne. Fortunately, the hole was tiny, or Ashe would have been swept into the whirlpool as well.

Cliose rushed over, her ears practically standing on end with anger. Beneath the cavity lay a Virtual Channel, teetering on the verge of vanishing. The chaotic currents inside were rapidly dispersing. Just as Ashe leaned forward to look in, the channel dissolved into nothingness. Any chance of pursuing her was now gone.

”Damn it, damn it all!” Cliose shouted, firing a few rounds into the air before collapsing in frustration. She bit her lip and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ”She got away... and I did it with my own hands...”

Ashe couldn’t believe it. Serena had escaped without using any spirit, Miracle, or summoning the Four Pillars Deities to attack the children. Her escape had come purely because Cliose had raised the floor, inadvertently pulling the monstrous Everlasting Doom into the Virtual Channel on the verge of vanishing.

Serena had done nothing herself. She hadn’t moved an inch. If Cliose had done nothing, Serena might have been caught by now. But that was impossible. Just as the underground hall’s hidden river followed natural law, Cliose’s fear of Everlasting Doom had long been predetermined.

Ashe thought, So... ever entwined, everlasting to the end. She is the very law of calamity.

The pain on his forehead had nearly faded, but Ashe still felt a chill creep over him. Serena’s forehead bump was no prank. It was a deliberate jab. With the Deities’ favor on her, and Ashe fleeing without properly resigning, causing the Four Pillars Cult to lose control of the Blood Moon Kingdom’s market, the directors of the Deities would surely have serious complaints about him.