The Death of Iver

"I'm telling you, old man."

Oswald, standing to the side, squinted and said out of the blue, "While you have your difficulties, this time you went a bit too far. We need to remember this."

"Of course."

The square-faced elf with an upright demeanor simply nodded seriously. "Anyway, I've already tried my best, so the rest is none of my business."

He then looked at Iver and whispered a reminder: "Be careful lately, Bishop Moriarty. Unless there's something special, don't go out... and don't go to the church either. Where the candles burn eternally, it is the sanctuary of the candle keeper."

While it seems rather strange for a butler to be instructing a bishop on matters of the church and faith, it makes perfect sense if one knows that the other is Pope Guard.

"Stop talking about the young master. You should also watch yourself, you old man..."

Oswald walked over and unceremoniously placed his hand on Diomedes ' back, as if pushing him away.

Diomedes obediently followed Oswald away... If nothing unexpected happened, Oswald would probably ask him some questions once they left Moriarty Manor.

After the old butler left with the other butler, old James turned back to Iver with interest. "Did you notice something? Can you tell your father when you realized something was wrong?"

Iver did not answer, but instead asked, "Then why didn't you attend the banquet?"

"Don't answer questions with questions, Iver."

James leaned back on the sofa, a slight smile playing on his lips.

But he still gave an answer in a good mood.

"Because those things are too troublesome and not suitable for me. Since I declined the invitation, it's not appropriate for me to go and freeload off them."

Professor Moriarty's lips curled slightly upward as he calmly said, "Does your father's statement satisfy your curiosity?"

"So, back to the question we just discussed—when did you realize something was wrong, and why were you so adamant in your refusal?"

Iver's heart was suddenly gripped tightly by an invisible pressure.

Judging from Professor Moriarty's words alone, it seems as if he was only talking about the engagement banquet of a royal Marriage Alliance.

It seemed as if he was only turning down an invitation from Queen Sophia...

But Iver understood what he meant: what old James had rejected was precisely the rebellious invitation from Drost and his men.

Even though he clearly stated his position and did not side with those traitors, Drost still dared not lay a hand on old James... His behavior could even be described as one of fear.

From another perspective, the adoptive father did not side with the royal family either.

In the game's storyline, James is completely absent. At least before version 4.0, there was no indication that anything was wrong with James. After Iver and Isabel fled to the Theocracy, Oswald, James, and Edward also disappeared without a trace.

From then on, Edward followed James the whole time.

His strength increased at an astonishing rate, almost like he had cheated... and he always managed to gain some special benefits from world-ending disasters.

—When Edward becomes a supporting character with lines and voice acting again, he will already be the main boss of Version 6.0.

Although the adoptive father is theoretically the final boss, strictly speaking, he didn't even enter the instance—he was killed by a mechanism outside of combat.

That was the last main story dungeon in Version 6.0, and also the last dungeon Iver fought before his time travel.

Iver remembers the scene from that instance vividly to this day.

The final boss of that dungeon is Corrupted Edward.

He merged with the Dragon Heart of the "Calamity Demon Dragon," wielded the corrupted and broken holy sword "Sword in the Stone," and absorbed three Angel Shard, becoming exceptionally powerful.

After the players finally defeated the extremely powerful Edward, no one expected that Professor Moriarty was previously thought to be just a schemer, would suddenly appear and easily intercept the players' finishing blow.

But James was not his usual deep and gentle self; instead, he became manic and gloomy, and his once upright back became hunched.

He claimed that Iver had been one of his men from the very beginning and tried to persuade Iver to defect.

The professor stated that his "great undertaking" was nearing its end and that he no longer needed "players"—the "players" here would display the names filled in by the players themselves, clearly referring specifically to the players.

But at this point, Iver seemed hesitant. He wanted to go with James, but also tried to plead for the player.

This indecisive and cowardly act infuriated the somewhat eccentric James.

He attacked the player directly, attempting to kill him and steal something from him.

Professor Moriarty's power was extraordinary—his attack froze time, turning the entire world into a "reverse color."

Players must use the artifact bestowed by the Hourglass to erect a shield in order to painstakingly carve out a small area and engage in a battle with him.

Just then, Edward, who had just recovered from near death, overexerted his power and used Instant Death Spell to launch a sneak attack on the player.

That Instant Death Spell is a core mechanic in the Edward dungeon.

Edward possesses Seven Selves, meaning he has six clones that appear and disappear at will. Any damage inflicted on his main body is distributed among the other clones present, and his main body is invincible and will not lose health.

While Edward can deal normal damage to clones, if a clone dies, he will guide and summon a new clone with full health.

Players must use the Twin Mirrors artifact to create overlapping and chaotic spaces, while preventing Edward's other spells from destroying those vulnerable spaces—if the mirrors are at too large an angle, they will also be directly destroyed by the ray.

The instant-death ray, which was ultimately induced to be released by Edward's main body, hit another clone of Edward was present at the same time after repeated refraction.

If hit by this ray, the Player Character will die instantly regardless of resistance and will not be able to revive in combat.

Since the ray disappears after killing a person, if the mirror angle is wrong or there are not enough mirrors, you can sacrifice a summoned creature to block one ray.

However, even summoned creatures, once they block this ray and die, cannot be summoned again during this battle. In game terms, they are "permanently killed."

Based on this characteristic, the mechanism can be broken—the clone hit by this ray will also be unable to be summoned by Edward again. In this way, one clone will be permanently killed.

This process is repeated six times to eliminate all the clones before you can damage the main body. Afterward, Edward will transform into a more aggressive dragon... but without the special mechanics, he becomes much easier to defeat and is quickly overwhelmed by the players. Then, the unskippable ending cutscene begins—the part where James appears.

Edward's instant death ray's power comes from the Calamity Demon Dragon —a corrupted self that was severed from the Silver Crowned Dragon after it was corrupted. Its power is so great that even the divine artifact given to him by the Hourglass cannot withstand it.

At that moment, Iver, who had been standing to the side unsure of what to do, suddenly noticed this scene.

He could have finished off the dying Edward to interrupt his spellcasting, but Iver was unwilling to kill Edward, yet he also lacked the ability to block the spell.

Because the Twin Mirrors artifact that can refract death rays is on the player, not on "Iver".

After some hesitation, Iver resolutely stepped in front of the player at the last moment, blocking the attack with his own body.

Professor Moriarty flew into a rage, but before he could unleash his fury, the player was urgently teleported back by another powerful ally—in the story, there is only one player, not "the players." All the enemies were actually defeated by the player alone.

Therefore, after Iver died, only one person remained in the team, and there was still a chance to rescue that one person. So, the moment Iver's protective barrier between the inside and outside broke, he was teleported away by a friendly force.

—This is all the details that Iver remembered about the incident of "The Death of Iver".

It was etched into Iver's mind as if carved by a knife and axe.

Iver was unaware of Professor Moriarty's purpose and abilities. This is clearly content from the sequel to version 6. X... but when Iver traveled through time, the game hadn't even been updated to this part yet.

If one must be certain of death by witnessing the last breath, then he couldn't even be sure if "Iver" was truly dead—because the player didn't even have time to hold Iver's corpse and shout a few words; he only saw that tattered, shattered back view in an instant...

Players generally believe that Iver is dead, mainly because the background music suddenly became sad and a slow-motion close-up was given.

Although his death was rather hasty, the atmosphere had been built up to this point, and it would have been impolite if he hadn't died in the end.

Iver, who possessed near-prophetic insight into the future, knew nothing about his adoptive father. And the unknown brings fear.

Therefore, ever since Iver awakened his memories of his Previous Life, he has been very wary of his adoptive father.

Iver, in the Previous Life timeline of Edward, was not taken away by Professor Moriarty.

As a result, he appeared to be just an ordinary Fourth Level Law Mage, with nothing particularly special about him.

Then it becomes obvious—the special one is Moriarty, not Edward at all.

In retrospect, it seems that Professor Moriarty was also involved in the "Cruel Autumn" incident.

Was the sudden faked death and departure of the adoptive father from Avalon because he saw through Iver's changes and no longer intended to get involved in the plan? Or did he want to leave Iver's side to allow Iver to act freely and observe his changes? Seeing that Iver had not responded for a long time, Professor Moriarty simply showed a gentle smile, "I see, then I understand."

"—Is there anything I can do for you, Iver?"

Hearing his adoptive father's words now, Iver felt a chill run down his spine.

He definitely guessed it! His adoptive father might even have guessed that he was another "Iver"...

All he needs to do now is reveal his identity as an ascendant, and he will die.

During the Promotion Ritual, Professor Moriarty immediately sensed something was wrong with Iver because of the resolute tone of his Iver. Yet, he still kindly asked Iver what he should do, much like a father playing video games with his child...

Since the simulated Professor Moriarty could easily see that the "Aivas" whose core was also Iver had been replaced, it was easy to see that the "Iver" had been replaced.

So, what about the real Professor Moriarty...?

... Could he really not realize that Iver had awakened his Previous Life memories that day? Iver recalled that when he had just awakened his Previous Life memories, and hadn't even sorted them out yet, he asked his adoptive father to help him find the Rope from the Gallows and the nails on the heads of the dead who were being torn apart by chariots, claiming that this was "a ritual to seal the Shadow Demon that I saw in an ancient book."

He was quite pleased with his understanding of the version beyond his own, believing that his adoptive father couldn't possibly know how to seal the Shadow Demon—because even the Stibnite Person didn't know.

At that time, Iver acted quite arrogantly and recklessly. It wasn't until his adoptive father and Sherlock faked their deaths one after another, and Oswald disappeared, that he began to feel the pressure and restrained himself slightly.

... But now that I think about it, my adoptive father had specifically hinted to him not to use human materials, as that would trigger the sin of "Heavenly Sin".

At the time, Iver could only conclude that it was a coincidence.

Looking back now...

Perhaps back then, the adoptive father had already realized that Iver was not right.

He just didn't say anything.

Just like now, calmly smiling as she looked at Iver.

Is it that he doesn't care? Or is it that Iver can't affect him?

Or perhaps, all of this was under his control? Iver didn't know just how powerful his adoptive father was, what he was planning, or what he actually knew. He drove Diomedes away, partly to protect Iver, and partly because he wanted the matter to remain a secret only to himself.

... such an intense sense of oppression.

Iver felt like he was about to break out in a sweat.

He didn't even know whether he should respond to Professor Moriarty's question.

If Moriarty is a chess player... then who would be playing against him?

For some reason, the name of his grandfather suddenly popped into Iver's mind.

—Jacob.

If there's anyone the professor can't predict or control, it's probably him...

After a moment's hesitation, Iver slowly nodded and said, "Indeed, there are some... if Father would be willing."

"Speak, Iver."

Professor Moriarty smiled gently, "If possible, Dad will try his best to help you. If not..."

At this point, he smiled and said slowly, "Dad will also tell you why you can't."

"Iver Moriarty ... my lovely Little Key."

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