Ascension of the Dark Seraph - Chapter 169

Chapter 169: The Fool’s Trick Chapter 169: The Fool’s Trick Lucivar sucked in a deep breath through his nose and exhale through his mouth.

His golden eyes gazed at the ceiling, there was a deep tinge of pain behind his eyes as the process of absorbing hundreds of bronze spheres annihilated his willpower.

It was too painful, almost as if he was killed and resurrected countless times in the span of a minute.

Though the pain was already gone, his mind was cloudy-stuck between the border of life and death.

If anyone else experienced that painful minute, they would go insane.

Not even experts who had gone through a thousand battles could endure such excruciating pain.

Lucivar was able to retain his sanity simply because he had something to cling to, his burning desire to fix-and destroy karma.

Even then, he was barely able to retain his mind-Sutekh’s way to power was extremely brutal.

‘Where am I?’ He pondered, his vision hard to focus.

“Oh, right, I was absorbing the bronze spheres” Groaning, he looked down only to find Sabrina beside him.

Her countenance was etched with worry and panic as she shook his body, trying to snap him out of it.

“Master!” “Master, what’s wrong?!” “Can you hear me?

Is there anything I can do to help?” As her voice became clearer and clearer, Lucivar finally raised a hand-signaling for her to stop.

“I’m fine, I’m training,” He answered, pushing Sabrina away.

“Go back to your training” Upon hearing this, Sabrina’s eyes trailed down to Lucivar’s body-his uniform was torn from the blast from earlier, exposing his torso along with blood drenching him entirely.

No matter how she looked at his condition, he was not fine.

She also felt uncomfortable and guilty.

Not even saying anything, Sabrina ran out of the chamber in a hurry.

Lucivar thought that she was going back to train, his strength was still recovering from Sutekh’s Divine Blood so he had no strength to see where she was going.

Soon, Sabrina came back, she had a bucket of water in one hand and a cloth in the other.

Instead of training, she began cleaning Lucivar’s torso dutifully.

“What are you doing?

I told you I’m fine.

I could clean the blood later,” Lucivar commented.

But Sabrina did not stop and insisted on cleaning him, “I would feel terrible if I went back to train and neglected my duty as your personal maid.

My breakthrough wouldn’t go anywhere, it could wait.

You’ll always be my priority, Master Lucivar” In response, Lucivar snorted as he sat on the cold floor-allowing Sabrina to clean him of blood.

Just then, Lucivar willed the stone tablet of Sutekh to appear.

Once the stone tablet appeared, his eyes quickly darted to the physique assessment below the essence bar and found that his physique tier had increased from low Papyrus tier to low Falcon tier.

Absorbing so many bronze spheres made his physique evolve further.

‘Hmm, I wonder… How would I fare with the participants of the South Hue Tournament’ He thought.

Considering that the South Hue Tournament would gather geniuses from every corner of the Valerius House’s territory, there must be freaks there who couldn’t be underestimated.

But then again, he doubted that any of them would have a bloodline as strong as him.

But then again, if there’s a freak first-year who is a Chrysalis-rank Hybrid, he might be in trouble.

Naturally, the gap between an Acolyte-rank Hybrid to a Chrysalis-rank Hybrid is way bigger than between an Acolyte-rank Hybrid-to a Neophyte-rank Hybrid.

Lucivar could be beaten easily if that was the case but he still has time to improve.

He wasn’t going to let himself be beaten by those who had weaker resolve than him.

Smiling faintly, Lucivar closed his eyes and entered his Inner Chamber.

In a second, the cold air inside the church brushed against his skin.

Once he opened his eyes again, he was inside his Inner Chamber with the looming statues around him.

Unlike the usual, the chamber wasn’t dark and foreboding.

Although the source of light was still mainly from the moon outside of this church, there was another source of light this time.

On the side, there was a pile of golden spheres that Lucivar hadn’t absorbed yet, gained from killing the prisoners.

The pile made the chamber way brighter than before.

Just the sight alone plastered a smile on Lucivar’s face but he couldn’t absorb it right now.

He needed an Attribute Stimulus first before he started working to the next rank.

Shaking his head, Lucivar focused on the task at hand.

He came here to check how many Arcane Pointsthe obtained from the green sphere as well as the upgraded mirrors-but before that, he went over to Sutekh’s statue.

He looked down at the statue’s base and saw that the bronze liquid was filled the statue and it was nearing the first threshold.

“A little bit more before I could attain Sutekh’s first Divine Elevation,” He mumbled inwardly.

Since he absorbed hundreds of bronze spheres, he expected to reach the threshold already.

But there were still a couple more centimeters to be filled before reaching the first Divine Elevation.

“Hope you liked the show, Sutekh,” Lucivar patted the statue before turning away.

He crossed the chamber with measured steps, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the cold stone walls until he came to a halt before the towering statue of Loki.

Standing at its base, Lucivar tilted his head back, his gaze locking onto the statue’s stone eyes.

A strange unease prickled at the edge of his mind.

No matter how many times he stood here, Loki’s gaze made him feel uneasy.

Of course, Loki was watching his every move, he knew that much.

But knowing that it was Loki, the God of Trickster, Lucivar couldn’t simply shake the unease away.

“If there’s something you wanted to say to me?

Like a thank you, maybe?

Or even a pat on the back for the show?” Lucivar commented nonchalantly, he could feel the intention behind Loki’s gaze.

But even after waiting for a couple of seconds, there was no answer, “I guess not” As he said that, he reached for the statue before the Gleipnir’s Echo glowed.

Its green gem shot an energy beam and summoned the mirrors.

Just like normal, three floating mirrors appeared before him like silent sentinels.

Swoosh!

Out of nowhere, Lucivar’s gaze dropped to his hand as an unexpected tremor coursed through his ring.

The Gleipnir’s Echo pulsed faintly, its glow flickering like the breath of a slumbering beast.

His brows furrowed in confusion as the ring trembled violently before a stream of radiant energy came out of it.

The luminous energy streaked through the air as it hurtled toward the three magical mirrors that stood before him with pinpoint precision.

A crackling sound pierced the silence, and the mirrors fractured as if struck by a hammer.

For a fleeting moment, it seemed they would shatter entirely, but then-a subtle shockwave rippled.

Lucivar instinctively raised his arm to shield himself as the wave of energy brushed against his skin, its touch electric and foreboding.

Lowering his arm, he realized the mirrors had not shattered.

Instead, they had transformed.

Where once they were simple and ornate, they now gleamed with otherworldly majesty.

Their frames coiled with an intricate network of emerald roots, shimmering with an eerie vitality but these roots were no longer still.

They writhed and twisted, reshaping themselves into serpents, their scales glinting with a malevolent sheen.

Naturally, the mirrors themselves glowed, their surfaces swirling with a beautiful emerald light.

A getaway to an unknown realm.

In addition, the air around them grew more oppressive-suffocatingly dense and overwhelming.

Lucivar’s senses dulled beneath its weight, save for the gnawing, unknown dread that settled in the pit of his stomach.

But he soon recovered, he knew that this was an upgrade and he couldn’t wait to check how much of an upgrade these mirrors were.

Glancing at the essence bar, the costs remained the same.

Right mirror of opportunity costs one essence bar, left mirror of ability costs three essence bars while the center mirror to make someone a Vestal costs five essence bars.

It was still the same cost-wise, but the rewards should be different.

Or at least, that was what Lucivar thought.

“Gandr, can you explain?” Lucivar suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, Gandr who was coiling around the foot of Loki’s statue answered, “The rewards from the Mischief Panes are better now, but what’s interesting is the center mirror.

If you created another Vestal, there’s a higher chance for you to make them awaken to a higher rank” Lucivar nodded in understanding.

He still has yet to experience the full benefit of having a Vestal so he isn’t really excited about that.

Just then, however, his eyes flickered, “But I am excited about another ability though…” Swoosh!

Smirking, Lucivar didn’t hesitate to point the Gleipnir’s Echo to the left mirror, firing a beam at it, and paid the full cost to obtain an ability.

As three essence bars were paid, the mirror swirled with power, and in return, it fired a thick beam back at Lucivar.

Almost instantly, Lucivar’s body stiffened the information of a new ability was engraved in his mind.

His eyes glowed emerald as new information was being forced into his mind.

Lucivar frowned when he heard an eerie laugh, in his ears.

It wasn’t Gandr’s, Sha’s-or Loki’s, this one was different.

It was high-pitched, foreboding, and astral, not a human voice.

Almost like the chuckling of a Demon.

Soon, the information was complete.

Pausing for a second, settling his mind on his new ability-his eyes flashed with a sinister light.

The Fool’s Trick-It’s an ability that was a direct branch of the Greedy Grasp ability.

It allows Lucivar to make any ‘item’ into the fool’s item by infusing God Strands, into the targeted ‘item’.

Once the fool’s item was established, several effects could take place- depending on what Lucivar wanted.

First effect, the fool’s item could explode with a gush of energy to decimate, confuse, or also weaken everything in its surroundings.

Naturally, the power from this explosion would depend on the amount of infused God strands to the fool’s item.

Second effect, the fool’s item could become a conduit for the Grand Dominion, enhancing Lucivar’s spells.

Third, the fool’s item could latch onto a target and restrain them for a period of time.

Such an ability is very powerful and also evil.

However, as strong as it was, there were limitations and strict conditions that must be met.

In order to use this ability successfully, Lucivar must have an elaborate plan in mind that the Fool would find entertaining.

Second, the fool’s item condition must be weak or unstable.

Third, if the fool’s item is an object, it needs to be touched to be activated and if it’s a living being, it must experience an intense emotion be it laughing or crying.

Realizing the ability he obtained, Lucivar sucked in a cold breath.

‘A specific and sophisticated ability,’ He pondered before a smirk crossed his lips.

‘perfect for me…’