The Secret Knowledge of the Ring Angel

By this time, Shafiya and Oswald had already left Moriarty Manor.

They are discussing their next course of action.

Although Iver planned to assassinate Prince John, Shafiya still intended to try to steal the body. After all, Iver's operation could potentially fail.

She wisely chose to flee because she was fighting two opponents alone and was not prepared for the battle.

But with Oswald in charge this time, they might not necessarily lose in a direct confrontation.

So Shafiya gained confidence.

This time, she first took Oswald home, sent her husband and children to a safe place, and retrieved her staff.

"The First Sequence Mission is to retrieve the Queen's Remains."

At Shafiya's house, she assigned Oswald a task. "If the first sequence of tasks is confirmed to have failed or cannot be completed, immediately initiate the Second Sequence Mission —to extract a vial of the Queen's blood."

"These are syringes pre-filled with anticoagulant; each of us will take one. We need to draw at least ten milliliters... as alternative materials for the Shadow of Avalon Ritual."

"If the second sequence of missions also fails, then abandon the Queen's Remains and begin searching for and rescuing Sherlock Holmes, while simultaneously drawing away the two Star Antimony members as far as possible to buy time for Iver's plan."

"If possible, help Iver kill Minister Drost ... He's a priest after all, not good at fighting. Although that fat man has probably forgotten how to fight by now, he is still Fourth Level transcendent..."

"—First of all, Madam Grand Adjudicator," Oswald interrupted Shafiya solemnly, "I must emphasize that all our plans and missions are based on the premise that Young Master Iver is safe enough. If he is in mortal danger, I will immediately abandon these plans and rush to his rescue."

"Of course, I'll go with you," Shafiya nodded in agreement. "At least we can't let anything happen to that child."

That was the man Princess Isabel loved, and now her only support.

Shafiya must at least save Iver's life.

As long as a person is alive, there will always be opportunities; once a person dies, there is nothing left.

Even if we take a step back, as long as Iver and Isabel are sent to the Theocracy, and she stays alone in Avalon... there is still a chance to perform the Shadow of Avalon Ritual again.

Professor Moriarty's words have gradually convinced her.

That seductive voice kept echoing in her mind, making it impossible for her to forget it.

... If Prince John is going to die anyway, then it's better to have him die sooner rather than later.

If Iver can't do it, then let her find someone else to do it— John is only two years old. Rescuing John will be difficult, but killing John is quite easy. Taking blood from Prince John's body will certainly be simpler than taking blood from the Queen's body.

When that time comes, I will bear the guilt myself.

Shafiya thought to herself.

Meanwhile, at the Moriarty Manor...

Everyone else had left, leaving only Isabel.

Professor Moriarty invited her into the Reception Room. They ate refreshments, drank tea, and chatted about various things, making it seem nothing like Queen who had just been assassinated. This made Isabel wary, so she maintained her facade, fearing it was some kind of test.

Professor Moriarty expressed his curiosity about how Isabel and Iver met.

... In fact, Isabel was also very curious about Professor Moriarty.

Because Iver rarely mentioned his adoptive father in his daily life, but at the New Year's Eve dinner, Edward showed great admiration for the professor.

Yulia's attitude was the strangest—on the one hand, she was quite affectionate and trusting of her adoptive father, but on the other hand, she was vaguely wary of him.

That feeling...

Isabel felt as if two married men, who were quite familiar with each other, had run into each other while seeking pleasure outside the home—a plot point she had seen in a play.

They shared a secret, one that they could use to destroy the other; but using that secret to destroy the other meant they would also be destroyed. Isabel believed that Yulia's attitude towards her adoptive father was just like that...trustful yet wary.

Iver, on the other hand, seemed to be very wary of his adoptive father.

Just like the way the ministers Isabel encountered as a child treated her Grandmother, she subconsciously avoided mentioning it. Even when she did mention it, she wouldn't call the other person by their name or the word she usually used to address them, but would instead use a pronoun.

It was as if if you uttered the word to address the other person, someone would suddenly respond.

Isabel had known Professor Moriarty before.

Professor Moriarty taught astrology, astronomy, and Advanced Mathematics at university. Isabel didn't have to take any of these three courses, so she never had a formal teacher-student relationship with Professor Moriarty Professor Moriarty... but she did recognize him quite well.

However, curiosity aside...

But throughout her conversation with Professor Moriarty, Isabel remained on edge, thinking rapidly as she wove or embellished her lies.

On one hand, it was to conceal his identity as an ascendant, and on the other hand, it was to help Iver hide information.

Based on her understanding of Iver and her keen intuition, Isabel vaguely sensed Iver's subtle hostility towards her adoptive father.

Although the origin of this hostility is unknown.

But since Iver is hostile to Professor Moriarty, Isabel will inevitably side with Iver.

Thank goodness Shafiya is gone, Isabel thought.

If Shafiya were here, it wouldn't be convenient for her to lie. Otherwise, while she might fool the professor, it might arouse suspicion from Shafiya, who knew her better. The professor knew almost nothing about her, so she would have much more room to maneuver...

But just then...

She suddenly heard a clear chime.

According to Yanis's teachings, this death warning only appears during Full Moon Ritual where there is a "role-playing requirement" and cooperation is needed to fight a powerful enemy. The appearance of this warning means that this Promotion Ritual involves cooperative combat.

This was so that those who were seeking teammates wouldn't have to wait endlessly for those who had been dead for a long time. Of the three Promotion Ritual Isabel had experienced, she hadn't heard this bell only once... and that happened to be Weizhe's ceremony.

The moment Isabel heard the bells, her pupils contracted with tension and then dilated with fear.

—Someone died? Is Iver alright?

Since Sherlock wasn't in the queue, her only teammate was Iver. But after thinking about it for a moment, she realized that Iver might not be able to reach the Silver and Tin Palace by now, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

But then she heard a burst of laughter.

It was like Comedy Actor telling a joke on stage, and at least a dozen different laughs erupted from the audience. Some were sharp, some were low, some were loud... some were hysterical, laughing until they couldn't breathe.

His identity as a potential candidate for promotion has been exposed!

This was the first time Isabel had ever heard this voice.

When she was promoted for the first time, her teammates died so quickly that their identities were not even exposed in time. In the second ceremony, the only person who might be able to reveal their identities was the "front desk staff" who died in each layer of the nightmare.

And this time, she was finally able to find out... what Sherlock meant by "uproarious laughter" and what Yanis meant by "sarcastic laughter"...

—Two people have been eliminated! And they were eliminated one after the other!

If Iver wasn't the first to be killed, would he be the second to have his identity exposed?

Isabel pursed her lips, forcing herself to remain calm.

No, that's unlikely.

Immediately following the first Death Knell of the bell, one would expect to be doing something, or engaged in an important conversation, when the sudden sound of the Death Knell exposes them. Given Iver's mental fortitude, it's highly unlikely he would be exposed because of something like this.

Are you... worried about Iver?

Just then, Professor Moriarty suddenly spoke up and asked a question.

Isabel glanced at the other person hesitantly, then, still playing the timid Princess, slowly nodded and whispered, "Yes..."

"... After all, he's just a priest, is it really okay?"

She had just momentarily let her emotions show, and if she insisted she wasn't worried now, it would only arouse suspicion. So, Isabel smoothly shifted her concern for Iver to Iver's profession.

"No need to worry, Your Highness Isabel."

Professor Moriarty said gently, "Iver is particularly skilled in prayer. He can not only invoke the power of the Pillar God, but he is also very familiar with the apostles and the celestial beings..."

"By the way, Your Highness. Have you heard of... ' Ring Angel '? That's the power that Iver is very good at borrowing."

"... Ring Angel?"

Isabel repeated, somewhat confused.

"That's right."

Professor Moriarty nodded and smiled at Isabel.

"... Are you referring to the Ouroboros? The Ouroboros Angel, the Infinite Angel..."

Isabel finally remembered that Ligeia seemed to be related to the Ring Angel: "The master of the Moulting Warlock... is that right?"

Professor Moriarty was quiet for a short while.

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Yes."

He nodded and replied, "It is Him. You should know which path He belongs to, right?"

"Path of Transcendence?"

Isabel wasn't quite sure. "I actually know very little about theology... but He is the Son of the Serpent Father, right?"

"...really."

Professor Moriarty was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

He put a finger to his lips and lowered his voice. "I'm going to show you more secret knowledge... Your Highness, you can tell Iver about this later, and he will be very surprised. Of course, you don't have to tell him either... You are free to choose."

Upon hearing this, Isabel immediately became alert.

Is this an attempt to send false information to Iver through me? But I can't ignore it... what if it's something useful to Iver?

... When Isabel thought of this, she realized she had fallen into a chain of suspicion.

Listening is not an option, nor is ignoring it.

After much deliberation, Isabel decided to give it a try. At least she could gain the upper hand.

Perhaps because she lacked sufficient knowledge of theology, she listened somewhat in a daze and could only jot down the content for the time being...

"... Before the [Cicada Molting] occurred, the Ouroboros did not actually belong to the Path of Transcendence. It was once the Celestial Master of Self-Destruction, the Celestial Master of Rebirth and Renewal... a Celestial Master belonging to the Equilibrium Path. It was only when it obtained one of the results of the Cicada Molting, the [Endless Knot], that it became the Celestial Master of the Path of Transcendence."

"In the ancient times before the elves were born, the Ouroboros had a completely different authority than it does now."

Professor Moriarty said softly, "Back then, He could reset the timeline, resetting the world to a certain point in the past. Until the [Cicada's Molting] occurred, history was shattered, and it was impossible to return to the time before the [Cicada's Molting]. So He discarded that fragment..."

"The ouroboros, also Ouroboros, had another name."

"—The dragon respectfully calls Him... the Reincarnation Angel."

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