Isabel was quite happy when she first saw Iver.
A few days ago, relying on her memories and imagination, she had painted Iver a new magic painting—him dressed in a gorgeous and elegant white robe, its shoulder straps fluttering in the wind together with his waist-length platinum-blond hair.
Although Iver's hair was nowhere near that long, Isabel had gradually learned how to paint without being bound by reality. This meant that, as a Magic Painting Artisan, she had basically mastered the fundamentals. She could now paint things that did not exist in reality but that she still believed to be real.
She had originally wanted to show the painting to Iver.
But after hearing the story Iver told, Isabel did not even have time to celebrate the fact that Iver had not encountered mortal danger and had not needed to use that "Isolde's Tears" before she suddenly became aware of something discordant for no apparent reason.
She instinctively activated Spirit Vision and looked toward Iver's soul.
Isabel immediately shuddered—
The crystal soul that had originally been beautiful and balanced, half near-gold vermilion and half near-black Deep Purple, like a sunset over the sea... was now three-quarters covered by a mysterious and pure deep purple.
From the top downward, the first third was dark red, black, and deep purple. The remaining two-thirds were deep purple gradually fading into a pale purple that was almost pink.
If pink could be regarded as a kind of "diluted red," then this scene was undoubtedly "Transcendence" capturing and digesting part of "Dedication."
If this shift in the balance between Paths had come from a decision Iver had made himself, Isabel would not have thought much of it. But clearly, Iver had not noticed it.
So Isabel immediately became vigilant.
"Has the Path of Transcendence... become